My husband is type 1 diabetic and on the insulin pump. He is 34 years old.. He was diagnosed at 10 y/o.. he has had major psychological issues with this disease his entire life and has never really accepted his illness. He pretty much told me that he has barely tested or taken care of his health his entire life. WE have a 5 year old which he promised and swore he would take care of himself for the day she was born.. That never happened.
He is finally beginning to test over the past 3-4 months. His dr has stated that he is brittle. His sugars are all over the place.. 380, later on it might be 40. He runs super low in the night (even after having a snack) The other day, we went to the store and he felt shaky. tested and it was 75.. he ate a luna bar and half a banana.. not much longer after he tested again and he was 27 There are times before dinner he is 145 and hour or two after eating he is 40.. and this is without bolusing! His dr says he has to be bolusing but I watch and ask him if he is and he is not.. Is this just brittle diabetes?? Does it ever go away?? He has had two virectomies in his left eye and has had laser on his right eye for floaters.. he is so young for all of this as am I to be living it. It is sad and depressing.. And so scary.
His sugar is up and down literally all day long.. no matter what he does or eats. he says that is why he never tested.. he would let it run high instead of dealing with it. what do I do?? I feel like he is dying.
Also, he has talked about seeing spirits. Seeing and hearing voices and ghosts. This is not only during low episodes. I am concerned that maybe there is neurological damage.?
How often per day does he test? When I was pumping I was testing 8 to 10 times per day. I suspect that he is not really brittle (an overused word by docs) but simply wasn't testing and taking care. Some folks are quite volatile, but if he hasn't worked out his insulin to carb ratio, insulin sensitivity factor, or his basal rates, then he will be bouncing all over the place with his pump. I would strongly recommend the book entitled "Pumping Insulin". It will give you a good handle on how to best take care of yourself.
Sorry I can't be more help. Give us a few more details about ratios and testing.
I believe he tests 6 times a day.. But he just started testing since he is about 18 yrs old and he is now 34. He gives himself 1/2 unit at night and is on 6 units throughout the day. Today he woke up and was 173, ate oatmeal. he went up to 259 at 10 am.. by 11 am he was 40. He did not bolus.. How does it drop when he isn't bolusing? His dr said he has to be but he is not. it seems so hard to manage I am not sure what he should do.. He has even been going into 20's. I am concerned he is just going to go into a coma one day.
I believe he tests 6 times a day.. But he just started testing since he is about 18 yrs old and he is now 34. He gives himself 1/2 unit at night and is on 6 units throughout the day. Today he woke up and was 173, ate oatmeal. he went up to 259 at 10 am.. by 11 am he was 40. He did not bolus.. How does it drop when he isn't bolusing? His dr said he has to be but he is not. it seems so hard to manage I am not sure what he should do.. He has even been going into 20's. I am concerned he is just going to go into a coma one day.
If he goes low even with eating and not bolusing, then his basal rates are probably too high. Has he done basal testing? This means short periods of fasting (like skipping one meal) and then testing every hour or so to see what happens. If your blood sugar drops, your basal rate is too high, if your sugar goes up, the basal is too low. That is the beauty of the pump- you can adjust the basals. It takes several days (because yoiu don't want to fast all day, that can screw up the results) to do this testing and also involves getting up during the night to see how severe the dawn phenomenon is too.
And since he's on a pump, he can have different basal rates at different times of the day.
Many people, especially T1's, need at least two and often 3-4 different basal rates depending on how their typical day goes. If they're more active, the basal rate usually is lower; if they're sedentary, the rate needs to be a bit higher. For example, say a person gets up and goes to the gym before going to work at a desk job. They'd need to lower the rate about an hour before working out and maybe an hour or two afterwards (maybe more, maybe less...it's very individual); then, once they're at their desk, they may need a slightly higher rate. And they may need a lower rate at bedtime until early morning.
In order to have good results with a pump, one really needs to fine-tune ALL the rates (basal, insulin:carb ratio, correction factor, etc.) It takes quite a bit of testing at first, but once you've got the correct settings, the pump can do wonders for eliminating those yo-yo readings.
Ruth
The Following User Says Thank You to SamQKitty For This Useful Post: Kendra01 (04-27-2012)
I am an adult who was diagnosed with Type I as an adult. There have been times that I did not monitor myself as well as I should have. My problem was that I tried very hard, but when you keep failing, you become overwhelmed.
I have had 20's and 300's in the same day too. Still with much work I got my A1C down quite a bit. I am still up and down so I am now selecting an insulin pump. I think I'll start a thread on the pros and cons to help me chose.
I know that going to a message board where other Type I diabetics post is quite helpful. The American Diabetes Association can help with that too. They have excellent advice. Plus, do you have a local support group or counselor that can help with support?
One of my diabetes educators is a Type I with a pump and she is just great. She gives me hope that I can really get this thing under control. I've been trying for 12 years.
TYpe 1 brittle- insulin pump 
